Gridless tactical combat, dynamic weather, and a living crystal that remembers every failed run in the Upcoming Pixelated RPG

On this Sunday, along with an exclusive preview granted only to me, which I’ll admit feels pretty great, I can announce that one of the most intriguing RPGs of the next year, Blightstone, a title we’ve been getting to know throughout 2024 and 2025 thanks to demos at events and elsewhere, is gearing up for its Early Access launch, and it’s coming next month.

This Early Access launch marks the first time players will be able to properly dig into its full “save the crystal, save the world” campaign structure.

Set in a realm slowly being eaten alive by corruption, Blightstone puts players in charge of a small party of adventurers and the Earthglass Crystal that quite literally holds their fate together.

The core goal is to escort the crystal across a collapsing world to the Infernal Rift, destroy the demon overlord Korghul, and shatter the Blightstone itself before the blight consumes everything. Every failed run leaves a mark on the world and feeds back into progression, reinforcing the crystal and unlocking new skills, builds, and options for future attempts.

Blightstone moves away from the usual grid-based setup. Encounters play out in free-movement arenas, where precise positioning, line of sight, and cover are to be taken into account.

Players can spread out to avoid area attacks, hug rocks and ruined walls for cover, or angle melee characters to flank and pin enemies in tight spots. There’s no safety in symmetry either: enemies enjoy the same freedom of movement, which means careless advances can be punished quickly by backline divers or ranged units exploiting gaps in formation.

Environmental interaction is built into almost every encounter. Tall grass doubles as cover until someone sets it on fire. Pools and streams become makeshift amplifiers for lightning skills, letting players chain damage through clustered foes.

Quicksand, pits, and other hazards can be used to control the battlefield, pushing or dragging enemies into instant danger. On top of that, dynamic weather acts as a global modifier: fog can hide enemy UI and make threat assessment harder, rain wets everyone and boosts electric effects, and strong winds cut ranged accuracy.

Fights become puzzles where conditions shift mid-run, encouraging players to adapt their plan rather than repeat the same opening every time.

Blightstone leans into party-building and long-term planning. Runs revolve around recruiting and upgrading heroes from five main classes: Brawler, Hunter, Arcanist, Druid, and Priest, each with their own skill trees, roles, and possible companions.

A Brawler might tank and control space with grapples and stuns, while a Hunter pins priority targets and manipulates enemy movement.

Arcanists and Druids bring area control, status conditions, and elemental combos, with Priests filling the support, sustain, and protection niche. Over time, players unlock active and passive skills not only for the heroes but for the Earthglass Crystal itself, which can gain its own arsenal of melee, ranged, area, and delayed abilities.

Status effects are central to how battles snowball. Bleeding, poison, stuns, roots and burning damage can tilt a fight long before a health bar hits zero, and many skills appear designed to exploit those states, turning a poisoned enemy into an area bomb, or locking down a key threat just long enough to reposition the team. Enemies can do the same in return, so mismanaging debuffs or letting conditions stack up can quickly collapse what looked like a stable frontline.

As a roguelite, failure is part of the loop. Each defeat feeds shards back into the Earthglass, upgrading future runs with new perks, skills, and options. Between expeditions, players regroup at camps and refuges, re-equip their party, and decide how to invest limited resources in survivability, offense, or utility.

Unfinished Pixel, better known until now for sports and arcade titles like Super Volley Blast and Spy Chameleon, is using Blightstone as a step into heavier strategy and RPG territory. With its gridless combat, strong environmental layer, and a world that remembers every failed attempt, the Early Access version aims to give tactics fans something that sits between classic party-based RPGs and modern, systems-heavy roguelites.

Blightstone enters Early Access on Steam on January 20 with a launch discount and a demo already available for those who want to test the waters early. Below is the new trailer.